Humanity at Stake (Completed)

Chapter 29

"Do you hear that darling?
A revolution is calling
No child of ours should have to starve
Should have to die for us." -"Sincerely" by Stephen

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"What is she doing here?" a man abruptly asked as Nova and the Colonel walked into a rectangular room. In the middle, a large wooden table was placed, a sheet of aged, water stained paper placed on top with a building on it. The Colonel ignored the man's questioning, beckoning Nova to follow her to the table.

Five other people were in the room. The man that had questioned her was older. An eyepatch rested over his left eye, and a thin scar peeked out on either side. His beard was grey and pushing, reaching down to the top of his chest. His was heavier set and carried a spear on him.

Across from the man was Justin who glared at Nova as she stopped next to Colonel Marie. Her eyes wondered down to the paper, taking in a rough sketch of a towering building. 15 stories were laid out in front of her, lightly sketched with stairs against the back wall.

"Is this what the nest looks like?" the Colonel asked, hope clear in her voice. A confused look crossed Nova's face before she shook her head.

"Not at all," she responded. In response, she received a slamming noise from the other side. She looked up to see a blonde haired woman. Her hair was tied back and she held a crude looking object with a point at the tip.

"At least tell me it's close. We don't have the resources the wipe this and start over again," she begged, he eyes looking wild and desperate. Nova sent her a timid look before shaking her head. The woman lowered her head in exasperation, exhaling loud and long
"Three straight days of working on this," she whined lowly. The Colonel sent her a look before bringing her attention to Nova.

"Don't mind her. She's Jessaline. Drawer and coordinator extraordinaire. She's been put in charge of drawing a layout of the vampire nest." The Colonel changed her gaze over to the woman drawing, raising an eyebrow. "Just flip it over, Jess." Jess grumbled in response, but abided by what Colonel Marie said. A clean piece was revealed, causing everyone to look over at Nova.

"What?" she asked in confusion, her eyes darting from person to person. She shifted uncomfortably at the amount of attention on her.

"We need you to help us map out the nest?" Justin responded, his voice tinged with animosity as he tried to make her feel stupid. Nova closed her eyes as she tried to picture the layout of the vampires' home.

"There's a steep tunnel leading from the outside that leads down into the mountain. The whole area is shaped roughly like a circle. There's a large open gap between the city and the tunnel, which  the outskirts taper down until the city is against the cavern wall. The main-"

"Hold up!" Nova was interrupted by a sharp voice. She opened her eyes, blinking in surprise to see Jessaline making large arches with her drawing utensil. She bit her lip as she concentrated, managing a decent, but slightly lopsided circle. After that, she looked up at Nova, twirling her pencil around.

"How wide is this arc you're talking about? The one of the city," Jess questioned, chewing on her lip. Nova looked Round the room at the people staring at her once again. She slipped around to the less wide sides, so she could touch the right side of the circle.

"It starts about right here," Nova started, pointing a little higher up than the halfway towards the entrance. Using her pointer finger, she traced an arcing line across the inside of the larger circle, ending it on the opposite end around the same area.

Jessa followed after her, the marks left behind arcing nearly close to the same trail Nova traced. Nova shuffled closer to the opposite end of the area from the entrance, pointing to the farthest point.

"Here's where the main building is. They call it The Castle. That's where the  officials are. From there out, it's classed by social cast. The blood bags are out along the outside in the shabby huts. The houses are close together.

"Then it's the servants. Their's are a bit farther apart road wise and larger housing. It continues inwards thought the ranks, getting larger until you reach The Castle," Nova explained quickly. Over the next few hours, she stayed in the room, guiding Jessaline along as she sketched through the map. She would make little corrections here and there, but overall just watched the process with interest.

"How many enemies are we looking at?" the man with the eyepatch inquired, causing Nova to glance up at him. He stood straight, his arms crossed intimidatingly over his chest as he looked down at her with one beady eye.

"Last I was there, about 2,000. That included the officials. More could have joined since I left though it wouldn't have been many." Her eyes swept over the room, watching the two people who hadn't said a thing the entire time she was in the room. One of them was a young man. He had a strong jaw and fiery red hair to match her own. Crystal blue eyes sparkled in the darkness of the corner he stood in, surveying the table and the people around it.

The last one was an older woman. Her dark gray hair was ties back into a braid. Her eyes squinted at the map in front of them. She stayed silent, but Nova could tell she was listening to everything said, soaking it in.

"As I had told the Colonel: the compound has three High Overseers, five Aristocrats and a Queen."

"We've killed one High Overseer. Would that happen to be one of them from the nest?" the red head in the corner finally spoke, his voice deep and baritone. The Colonel shook her head as her eyes scanned the map like she was memorizing it.

"The High Overseers are expendable. They may be a part of the officials, but some rulers don't treat them well. Most have over 10 of them. The three at the nest are more than likely the top ones," Colonel Marie explained, causing Nova to look down at the table, her eyes wide with shock.

"There more than one ruler?" Nova asked, her voice barely managing to reach above a whisper.

"Yes. There are five other countries besides this one, Estium. There's Vrecwind, Oprilon, Zalral, and Biro. Almost each one has a vampire ruler watching over the invasion of that country," Colonel Marie filled Nova in. Nova felt familiarity and stupidity crash over her quickly. I thought those were city names! Not entire... other places!

"Except Biro," Nova murmured, remembering the talk she had with Leon. Her remark went unnoticed as the topic changed to something else.

"Great, we know the amount of vampires there. What does that help us? Sure we could take on a few low rankers, but no way could we take on nine officials," Justin put in, his gaze glaring at Nova.

"I can bait out an Aristocrat," Nova informed, her voice shaking with the new information released on her. So many people that are probably dealing with what I dealt with...

"Oh, yeah? How so?" Justin sneered at her, causing her to look up again. For one last time, her eyes scanned over the people around the table.

"I just need to go back to the old city, and find myself a vampire."